Willy Wonka or Charlie Bucket?

There are times when we look at our lives, take stock of our lives, and realize we don’t have all of what we want, but we may have all of what we wanted. Perhaps this is our most dangerous time. To have all we want right now we must sometimes risk all we had ever wanted. It’s a challenge to reconcile this in our heads if not our hearts. Read this line and ask yourself if this is true for yourself or not.

When I protect the present, I prevent the future.

It makes me think of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Willy Wonka: And Charlie: don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he’d ever wished for.
Charlie Bucket: What happened?
Willy Wonka: He lived happily ever after.

Perhaps I’ve talked to too many people who had everything they ever wanted only to find it wasn’t what they wanted after all or, at least, wasn’t what they wanted at that time. I think Wonka got it wrong, but if we take out the word “suddenly” and “ever after” it loses its fairytale ending but can still inspire us.

“Ever after” takes work and doesn’t happen “suddenly”. It requires consistent attention to what we have, where we are and where we want to go. A person doesn’t live happily ever after without effort or course adjustment anymore than simply putting your car in drive will take you where you want to go.

I have a client who has everything they ever wanted and suddenly feels compelled to want something else. They will have to sacrifice the known. Give up on protecting the present and this is scary. They said “I want to make the right decision.” But there is no RIGHT. There is only DECISION. Life is not a test and her dilemma is not a moral one. How then can there be a right or a wrong choice? There isn’t; it’s simply protection versus possibility. We are not the Charlie Buckets of the world. We are the Willy Wonka’s and WE PRINT THE TICKETS.